


Picnic

by Tamari



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Forum: Goldenlake, Horses, summery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 23:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14579799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamari/pseuds/Tamari
Summary: Lerant and Lianne take a summer’s day to themselves.





	Picnic

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Summer Bingo 2017 at Goldenlake (fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com)  
> Prompts: somewhere new + freedom + picnic + fruit + riding

They snuck out of the castle before daybreak. Lianne’s horse was more amiable than Lerant’s to having a picnic basket tied to her saddle, but there were no serious injuries. They trotted for a time, with only the thud of hooves on the well-worn trail through the Royal Forest filling the silence.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Lerant commented. And it was; the sky shone bright and blue, the surrounding air warm but not too heavy. Lianne nodded.

“I’ve never been here before. Let’s stop,” she said eventually, when they rode by a little clearing. They dismounted and tied their horses. Lianne finally began to smile as she untied the basket from her saddle.

“I’ve been looking forward to this all week,” she told Lerant. 

He slowly smiled back at her as he spread out the blanket and leaned over to open the basket. “Me too. Are these apples for the horses or for us?”

She giggled. “We can share.” She held one out to her mare to take a bite, then took one herself.

“I’m not sure that’s what the ‘generosity’ page in the princess etiquette book is referring to,” Lerant said dubiously.

“There isn’t a princess etiquette book.” Lianne sighed. “There’s, like, two hundred. And no, sharing with your horse isn’t in any of them. But I think it’s common courtesy, don’t you?”

They exhausted the apples and the horses began munching grass instead. Lerant and Lianne ate more fruit. The sun warmed their skin and the blanket, making Lerant take off his tunic. Lianne gave him an appreciative whistle.

“You’re so handsome,” she whispered, even though there was no one around to hear except their horses. 

He blushed stark red. “I’m not. But thank you, Highne—Lianne.”

“Good catch.” She half-smiled. 

“Lianne, why did you want to come out here today?” Lerant asked, propping himself up on his elbow and looking into her sapphire eyes. “Not that I mind. But we could have spent time together on the practice courts or in the gardens.”

“I wanted you to ravish me in the forest.” Lianne kept a straight face, but at Lerant’s expression, she laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. The palace is very lovely and we have excellent facilities — and Goddess knows it’s more my home than Conté — but sometimes I feel trapped. I need a tiny little taste of freedom. You know?”

Lerant did know.

“And I feel like,” Lianne continued, “when it’s just you and me, I don’t have to perform. When I’m on the palace grounds, there are always people watching, judging me. So I love being with just you.”

Lerant swallowed hard. “I… like it too.”

Lerant and Lianne lay down on the blanket to look at the clouds while they talked for hours. Maybe some ravishing occurred, but the horses will never tell.


End file.
